Orienteering (Foot) 1:46:08 [3] ** 5.11 mi (20:46 / mi) +294m 17:37 / mi
spiked:29/30c slept:7.0 weight:193lbs
QOC: Kings Landing, Park; a part of the Patuxent River Greenway in Calvert, County, MD. I ran the Score-O event. It took me a little while to get into reading the map. The scale was 1:7,500, but the symbol sizes were smaller than standard. Though mapped well, point features appeared fuzzy despite me using my 2.0 glasses. The glasses also got foggy at times. This Sunday, it was about 40 F, with misty rain, after heavier rains over the weekend. Knowing the area was hilly, I paced myself, not rushing for much. The steep slopes were slippery. I had no memory of running here. The last time I ran here was in October, 2002, when I was still new and just really starting to regularly do orienteering.
I started out going to the west where it was flatter. I went clockwise. After making the initial decision on which control to start with, the order to clear the course was pretty clear. I started reading the map better after about 8 controls. The hilly part came next. I would go across reentrants or around them depending on what looked best.
Going from #62 to #73, I made my only navigational error, by missing a spur and going down the next. The next one happened to be one of the longest and greenest. I recovered pretty well but lost about 5 minutes.
Going from #61 to #42 in the extreme east, I struggled getting out of a reentrant--I slid down when trying to climb up.
I ran from #40 to #67 well but with my map folded, I hadn't realized that I should have crossed the marsh after #40. I ran back toward #40 after getting #67 and seeing Peggy and Max there, then found a way across the marsh. I kept out of the deep mud but it was still a slow crossing. The loop on the south side was done in order of #36, #59, #75, #70, #63. I wasn't sure if I had enough time to get all of them since I anticipated having to cross the marsh in the same place, back upstream near #40. Since the map symbols were small and fuzzy to my eye, I couldn't tell if there was a boardwalk along the edge of the Patuxent River. However looking from the edge of the dropoff near #63, I could see there was no bridge, but also that there was a potential crossing just a little way east. It went across a lot of reed grasses which held enough land together. As it was, I found footsteps and an elephant trail from one other orienteer that were helpful in keeping me from sinking too much. I reached the shore closer to #48, than #67 which I'd already been to.
It was nice to clear the course. I felt a little lucky that my initial control choice was good. It would have been nice to have been more energetic, but one can't have everything.